1.0 Introduction
1.1. my-photo-prints.art holds, processes, and shares a limited amount of end-consumer personal data which is an asset needing to be suitably protected. my-photo-prints.art. may be referred to henceforth as ‘The Company’.
1.2. Every care is taken to protect personal data from incidents (either accidentally or deliberately) to avoid a data protection breach that could compromise security.
1.3. Compromise of information, confidentiality, integrity, or availability may result in harm to individual(s), reputational damage, detrimental effect on service provision, legislative non-compliance, and/or financial costs.
2.0 Purpose
2.1. The Company is obliged under the Data Protection Act to have in place an institutional framework designed to ensure the security of all personal data during its lifecycle, including clear lines of responsibility.
2.2. This Policy sets out the procedure to be followed to ensure a consistent and effective approach is in place for managing data breach and information security incidents across The Company.
3.0 Scope
3.1. This Policy relates to all personal and sensitive data held by The Company regardless of format.
3.2. This Policy applies to all staff at The Company.
3.3. The objective of this Policy is to contain any breaches, to minimise the risk associated with the breach and consider what action is necessary to secure personal data and prevent further breaches.
4.0 Definition / Types of Breach
4.1. For the purpose of this Policy, data security breaches include both confirmed and suspected incidents.
4.2. An incident in the context of this Policy is an event or action which may compromise the confidentiality, integrity or availability of systems or data, either accidentally or deliberately, and has caused or has the potential to cause damage to The Company’s information assets and/or reputation.
4.3. An incident includes but is not restricted to, the following:
Loss or theft of confidential or sensitive data or equipment on which such data is stored (e.g. loss of laptop, USB stick, iPad/tablet device, or paper record);
Equipment theft or failure;
Unauthorised use of, access to or modification of data or information systems Attempts (failed or successful) to gain unauthorised access to information or IT system(s);
Unauthorised disclosure of sensitive / confidential data;
Website defacement;
Hacking attack;
Unforeseen circumstances such as a fire or flood; and
Human error
5.0 Reporting an incident
5.1. Any Company Staff who accesses, uses or manages The Company’s information is responsible for reporting data breach and information security incidents immediately to The Company at hello@my-photo-prints.art.
5.2. If the breach occurs or is discovered outside normal working hours, it must be reported as soon as is practicable.
5.3. The report will include full and accurate details of the incident, when the breach occurred (dates and times), who is reporting it, if the data relates to people, the nature of the information, and how many individuals are involved.
6.0 Containment and Recovery
6.1. The Company will firstly determine if the breach is still occurring. If so, the appropriate steps will be taken immediately to minimise the effect of the breach.
6.2. An initial assessment will be made by The Company to establish the severity of the breach who will investigate the breach.
6.3. The Company will establish whether there is anything that can be done to recover any losses and limit the damage the breach could cause.
6.4. The Company will establish who may need to be notified as part of the initial containment and will inform the police, where appropriate.
6.5. Advice from experts across The Company, or qualified 3rd parties, may be sought in resolving the incident promptly.
6.6. The Company will determine the suitable course of action to be taken to ensure a resolution to the incident.
7.0 Investigation and Risk Assessment
7.1. An investigation will conducted by The Company and adequate resources will be allocated to expedite the investigation.
7.2. The Company will investigate the breach and assess the risks associated with it, for example, the potential adverse consequences for individuals, how serious or substantial those are and how likely they are to occur.
7.3. The investigation will need to take into account the following:
The type of data involved its sensitivity;
the protections are in place (e.g. encryptions);
what has happened to the data, has it been lost or stolen;
whether the data could be put to any illegal or inappropriate use;
who the individuals are, number of individuals involved and the potential effects on those data subject(s); and
whether there are wider consequences to the breach
8.0 Notification
8.1. The Company will determine who needs to be notified of the breach.
8.2. Every incident will be assessed on a case by case basis; however, the following will need to be considered:
Whether there are any legal/contractual notification requirements;
Whether notification would assist the individual affected – could they act on the information to mitigate risks?
Whether notification would help prevent the unauthorised or unlawful use of personal data?
Would notification help The Company meet its obligations under the seventh data protection principle;
If a large number of people are affected, or there are very serious consequences, whether the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) should be notified. The ICO will only be notified if personal data is involved. Guidance on when and how to notify ICO is available from their website at: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-eidas/breach-reporting/.
8.3. Notification to the individuals whose personal data has been affected by the incident will include a description of how and when the breach occurred and the data involved. Specific and clear advice will be given on what they can do to protect themselves, and include what action has already been taken to mitigate the risks. Individuals will also be provided with a way in which they can contact The Company for further information or to ask questions on what has occurred.
8.4. The Company must consider notifying third parties such as the police, insurers, bank or credit card companies, and trade unions. This would be appropriate where illegal activity is known or is believed to have occurred, or where there is a risk that illegal activity might occur in the future.
9.0 Evaluation and response
9.1. Once the initial incident is contained, The Company will carry out a review of the causes of the breach; the effectiveness of the response(s) and whether any changes to systems, policies and procedures should be undertaken.
9.2. Existing controls will be reviewed to determine their adequacy, and whether any corrective action should be taken to minimise the risk of similar incidents occurring.
9.3. The review will consider:
Where and how personal data is held and where and how it is stored;
Where the biggest risks lie, and will identify any further potential weak points within its existing measures;
Whether methods of transmission are secure; sharing minimum amount of data necessary;
Identifying weak points within existing security measures;
Staff awareness; and
Implementing a data breach plan and identifying a group of individuals responsible for reacting to reported breaches of security.
9.4. If deemed necessary a report recommending any changes to systems, policies and procedures will be considered by The Company.
